Jul 25, 2007 10:16 pm US/Eastern
DeFede: Naugle Isn't Just Nutty Anymore
Jim DeFede Is A Commentator For CBS4 News
by Jim DeFede
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
I'd like to take a moment to apologize to Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle.
In recent years I've often made fun of Naugle. I called him Nutty Naugle, whacky Naugle, Naugle the Demented, because of all of the crazy things he's said about poor people and minorities and gays and environmentalists.
A year ago I heard him talk about how we wouldn't really have an affordable housing crisis in this community if poor folks weren't so lazy and would get up off the couch and work two or three jobs, work 80 or 90 hours a week, they could afford a house. Nutty.
And when he came out recently with this idea of spending $250,000 on a robotic toilet to prevent men from having sex with each other in public parks, I laughed at how Naugle was once again proving he was two sandwiches shy of a picnic basket.
Let's talk about this robotic toilet for a second. It's a self cleaning toilet that plays music and after a few minutes a voice will come through the loudspeaker warning people to wrap up what they are doing. And then a few seconds later the door to the bathroom automatically swings open.
Personally, I can't go to the bathroom with that kind of pressure. And if you really want to protect kids, you don't want to set up a system where the door comes flying open while some poor guy is still trying to pull up his trousers. That's not going to be good for the children--trust me.
But getting back to my Naugle apology, I now realize it was wrong of me to ridicule Fort Lauderdale's mayor. Naugle isn't a joke. He's not a clown and a buffoon. Well, actually, he may be those things too, but he's actually downright dangerous. Not only is his homophobia rampant, he refuses to use the word gay and will only use the word homosexual, because he says homosexuals aren't gay because none of them are truly happy.
He perpetuates stereotypes about gays and AIDS and says the city and the county should review whether it really wants to promote tourism in the gay community because of the threat gays pose.
This is not just insane. County officials estimate gays and lesbians vacationing here account for a billion dollars in local revenue. But Naugle apparently is willing to flush that away.
Nah, Nutty Mayor Naugle is no longer a joke. He's a real problem. And I'm sorry voters in Fort Lauderdale didn't realize that sooner.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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